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Got my lease today

W

wordwiz

For the 15,000 sf. of space I hope to use this year. Pretty much a standard lease, the rent is $5 a year, good for one year and the option to renew next year.

An interesting part of the lease:
It is understood between the parties that the effort will be to demonstrate the ability to run three crops during the one year. Said crops may include, without limitation, during the cool season peas, broccoli and lettuce, and in the summer green beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers (hot and sweet), sweet potatoes, onions, basil, and swiss chard. Lessee shall keep accurate record of what is planted, its growth, the number of growing degree days, and daily temperature and shall share such information with any public agencies which are interested in it.

I do plan to keep meticulous records of what is planted when, when the plants first bloom and the fruit matures, the GDD that accumulates as well as the weight of harvests. The daily temps may not be exact, but the recorded temps in my backyard, if my plans come together. I want to use part of the proceeds from my plant sales to get a Weather Station, probably this one.

A side benefit - my garden will be less than 1/10 of a mile from two large employers and several smaller ones. I can easily pass out some flyers advertising a "truck farm" on Wednesday (or whatever) and maybe have 400-500 customers. I can sell the produce cheaper than anyplace they can buy it and still make some decent change. Between two Farmers Markets, sales to restaurants and delis, and mass sales to a produce store, along with the Truck Farm, I should not have any problem selling anything I can grow.

Mike
 
Haha, the first thing I did when you said you had 15,000 square feet to use, was get out my calculator and use the square root function.

I seem to be numerically challenged when it comes to attempting to understand just how large of an area square footage actually covers, unless I first break it down. :rofl:

So it turns out, if you had a square lot, that you'd have roughly 123' x 123' feet of growing space.

Wow, that is alot of space for only $5.00 per year.

Best of luck to you in your growing business venture Wordwiz. :cheers:

dvg
 
dvg said:
Haha, the first thing I did when you said you had 15,000 square feet to use, was get out my calculator and use the square root function.

I seem to be numerically challenged when it comes to attempting to understand just how large of an area square footage actually covers, unless I first break it down. :rofl:

So it turns out, if you had a square lot, that you'd have roughly 123' x 123' feet of growing space.

Wow, that is alot of space for only $5.00 per year.

Best of luck to you in your growing business venture Wordwiz. :cheers:

dvg
Click to expand...

Oops, double post. :beer: :beer: :cool:
 
I have it engraved in my brain that 43,560 sq. feet is an acre, so I can estimate pretty quick. That sounds like a great deal for $5 per year. Good luck and happy growing Wordwiz!!!
 
That’s just over 1/3 acre, not too bad.

You should be able to grow a lot of produce, sounds like a good plan.
 
Thanks all.

I intend to actually turn it into about 32,000 sf. Plant a spring, summer and fall crop in a bunch of the area, then interplant stuff, such as lettuce between tomato plants in the rest of it.

I would love to be able to make enough money to buy a small tractor with a set of cultivators - my preference is a 1948 Cub! I spent at least the minutes equal to three years on one of those over the years, many years ago. Plow tobacco and gardens from 9 am until 11 pm, several days a week.

The work has already started. In the last three days, I sowed 1600 peas and 300 tomato seeds. Still need to sow another hundred maters and if I can find the seeds tomorrow, about 600 Bright Lights Swiss Chard. The Chard is one of those plants that once the seeds germinate can go in the GH and will survive freezing temps. So can the peas.

This is fun!!! I can hardly wait until the ground dries out enough so I can start tilling it. Some of the area I didn't include in my original measurements is shaded part of the day, but it can be used for the Chard and lettuce. Back in the early '80s, dad was thrilled to get eight grand per acre from tobacco, I'm hoping to at least match that from my area. Time will tell!

Mike
 
Congrats Mike!

That's some interesting wording in your lease. So, how'd you come about it? Is it state or county land? I ask because of the "keep and share your data with public orgs" lingo.

By the way, you got access to water on this plot? Is it fenced? Any kind of potential critter problems?

It's gonna be a lot of work, but this sounds like a blast! Wish I lived closer - I'd be happy to give you a hand.

Good luck! :woohoo:
 
Years ago, it was part of an old paper mill but when that industry closed, the buildings were razed using Brownfields Grants. It sits maybe 25 feet from an Interstate Highway (I-75) which will someday be expanded. It's mostly fenced on three sides with a thicket between the highway and plat. I've never seen a critter there, probably because of the road.

I drove by it a couple of times a day and one time had a thought about possibly leasing it from the Village of Lockland. Talked with the village manager and explained how it would make a great demonstration project showing how unused urban land could provide a great basis for Locavore. Plus, leasing it to me would me the village would not have to spend funds mowing and maintaining it. I have (for better or worse) quite a reputation for gardening and he knew about me (I have a weekly column in my paper and I am often writing about peppers, tomatoes, even growing cotton!) and my passion. Plus, the village knows the state will take the land so it's just sitting idle until then.

In our original discussion I explained how I would be keeping extensive records of planting, blooming, Days to harvest, Growing Degree Days to harvest, total produce. I have also talked with the OSU Extension office about using GDD rather than DTM and tracking this since GDD takes into account climates. He liked that part because it gives credibility of a Demonstration Project.

I did not see any water on the site but there probably is someplace, just not an outlet at present.

I hope to get some pictures tomorrow and will post them.

Mike
 
Spectacular, if you match your fathers sums for the 1/3 acre you will be running at around 450% profit. Go Mike!
 
Nova,

As soon as the ground dries enough to get a tiller in it, I plan on starting. Gonna be a hard day, I'm sure.

I'm learning this is a different ballpark I'm playing in, as well as a different league. I've already ordered lots of seeds (600 tomatoes, 300 hot peppers, 1800 sugar snap peas) but today, placed one for 1800 tomato seeds plus growing media to hold them. The bottom line, that has hit me across the head like a short 4x4 swung by Johnny Bench, is that I need to walk this walk. Linda doesn't think I can do it - so I made a great bet. I plan on enjoying the evening of October 10, 2011. My 57th birthday. Though the parameters have changed, the bottom line hasn't - there is nothing to it but to do it!

Mike
 
Here's some pics of the plot. The first is looking south, you can see the Interstate to the right:

garden1.jpg


This is how part of the east side looks:

garden2.jpg


And looking north:

garden3.jpg


Mike
 
No worries WW you've got your work cut out but I'm willing to bet you will do just fine. Cant wait to see it full of plants.
 
I hope you have a tractor to till all that up with. I just did 20x25ft this weekend and I'm ready to croak now!

You will have quite the garden wonder there once you are through :dance:
 
Woody,

No tractor but a relatively new (bought it last year) Poulan front-tine tiller. Last year, tilling 1,000 square feet was easy, but this one could by maybe 20 times as large. It's about time I get in shape! By the end of spring, if I till that much area three-four times, I should add a few muscles!

Mike
 
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